After Delays, High-Speed Rail Project to Start This Summer

The opening phase of California’s high-speed rail project is scheduled to break ground this summer – and the project’s CEO is promising no further delays.

But as Ben Adler reports from Sacramento, it’s already behind what Governor Jerry Brown promised just last year.

In his 2012 State of the State address, the governor said his administration was within weeks of releasing a new business plan, “that will enable us to begin initial construction before the year is out.”

Then, last summer, Brown narrowly won lawmaker approval to sell billions of dollars in state bonds. High-speed rail backers had warned the project would lose its federal funds if that vote failed and construction were delayed.

“You always have to allow a little bit of time for just process, unfortunately. But we’re on the schedule that we laid out in our Business Plan last spring to move forward and be under way this summer.”

Morales says he doesn’t expect any more delays. But the project does face some hurdles. The Authority needs to buy the land it wants to build track on and still has several unresolved lawsuits.